City commissioners talk water rationing

Amarillo city commissioners debated what steps the city needs to take to curb water use during their work session today, settling for now on voluntary compliance with lawn watering restrictions.

Concerns about weather forecasts, including for the July 4 weekend, brought up the possibility of mandatory measures.

Daily water use for Monday was 82.2 million gallons. That’s 8.2 million gallons over the city’s goal of less than 74 million gallons daily and 20.5 million gallons more than June 27, 2010, according to a city news release.

The city is asking people with odd-number addresses to water on Tuesdays and Saturdays and those with even-number addresses to water on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Suggestions include not watering on windy days restricting watering to between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. only twice per week. Cool season grasses need 25 minutes of water while warm season grasses need 20 minutes, according to the release.